A Southern Rehabilitation

It is Mother's Day weekend 2021... the whole world has just spent a year in quarantine and dealing with the thing called Covid-19. It's been a super messy year because of it and so many other "issues" in our world today. However, this weekend is about celebrating, remembering, grieving, feeling great loss, being grateful and blessed, honoring, etc... It's just a freaking emotional weekend for so many women (and perhaps guys as well). I have been wondering all week what is up with my emotions, my inner being so to speak. I have felt "off-kilter," restless for the last four days and I couldn't pinpoint the reason. I think it has to do with Mother's Day--at least a good percentage of it.  I've read different posts this week about women acknowledging other women and their feelings on Mother's Day. Women who feel extremely blessed because they ARE mothers and at the same time feeling empathy and love for other women who haven't or can'...

Yesterday was August 13, 2016. It was a hot summer night on August 13, 2006, when I got the call that my grandmother was dying. I remember I had been to a movie with a bunch of teenage kids. The movie was Talledega Nights . When I got home, the call came and I froze. I didn't hurry but if I had of hurried, I might have made it before she passed. I was in shock and didn't want to believe it. If I put off going long enough, it would all be over. My oldest son drove me to Asheville that night. It was very late when we got to the nursing home. They had done nothing to her, didn't move her, just left her in the bed. When we walked into her room, it was more than I could stand at the moment. The woman I loved most in this world was dead; she was lying there with her mouth open, and we couldn't even close it. I tried. I walked out for a few minutes to try and get a grip on the emotions that were enveloping me while my sweet son stayed in the room with her for a bit. I was hard...